Pop-Tarts – Gone Nutty! PB&J Strawberry

Pop-Tarts were one of those foods that I always wanted as a kid but rarely ever had. I can’t say that I blame my Mom for denying me such a sugary “breakfast” food item. Even as an adult I will rarely indulge in Pop-Tarts. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches were a staple of my lunches growing up. I was (and still am) a very picky eater so my Mom knew that she could never go wrong with one of these bad boys. Even now I get the occasional hankering for some fluffy white bread slathered with creamy peanut butter and some jelly. Always strawberry jelly, don’t give me any of that grape blasphemy.

I have tried the other Gone Nutty! flavors and thought they were pretty decent, but with the inclusion of jelly to the mix, I was slightly apprehensive about the combination of the two. Actually I am having flashbacks of the peanut butter and jelly M&Ms that came out a couple of years ago that I thought were absolutely gross – at least when eaten together.

Now I am from the camp of eating Pop-Tarts uncooked. I honestly do not see the appeal of a hot Pop-Tart, but to each their own. The idea of a hot peanut butter and jelly sandwich sounds even more disgusting if you ask me. So I sampled this in my usual fashion, straight out of the package.

I took one bite and originally all I could taste was peanut butter. One complaint I have about Pop-Tarts is how FREAKING DRY they are. I guess they might soften up if you toast them, but good grief the corners are like the Sahara in my mouth. I finally got to the strawberry part and I must say… not impressed. They weren’t bad by any means, but between the copious amounts of pastry, whatever the “frosting is on top” and the peanut butter, the strawberry jelly is pretty subdued.

Texture: 3/5 – I like the crunchiness that the sprinkles on top give to the frosting. It reminds me of my favorite Poptart, the frosted strawberry ones. But man oh man are these dry. Consume with a beverage.

Smell: 4/5 – These smelled like elementary school lunch. Mostly peanut butter with an undertone of strawberry jelly.

Appearance: 3/4 – I think I would have opted for red frosting than brown – but when I think of the opposite color scheme of red frosting with brown sprinkles it doesn’t sound nearly as appetizing. I also found that the frosting wasn’t evenly applied to each tart.

Taste: 2.5/5 – These fall into the meh category for me. They weren’t awful but they weren’t a home run for me either. I think it was mostly because I was expecting a lot more flavor from the jelly portion than there was. I felt like the tart outside… crust… holding vessel…? and the peanut butter completely buried the strawberry taste for me. Had the frosting on the outside been a strong peanut butter flavor or even the pastry portion and just had strawberry filling, I would have probably liked this more. I would not buy these again.